Konoha.
Satoru's House.
Naruto came over with small steps.
He found that Satoru was not there, nor was sister ayame), nor was Grandpa Hiroshi.
His eyes showed disappointment.
Especially the gazes from around him, colder than the deep sea.
Then he remembered something and turned to walk towards the other side of the street.
Bang!
A figure just blocked him, and they collided and fell.
"Ouch."
"Ouch."
"Who are you?"
"Who are you?"
Naruto and Sasuke pointed at each other.
"Damn it, I'm Uzumaki Naruto! Why don't you watch where you're going?"
"Hmph! I'm Uchiha Sasuke, you're the one who isn't watching where you're going."
Sasuke puffed out his chest when he mentioned Uchiha.
"It's you."
"It's you."
Intense sparks flew between their eyes.
It looked like they were about to fight.
"Hey, fight! Why don't you fight?"
"Yeah, why aren't you fighting?"
Two voices sounded, and Sasuke and Naruto turned to look.
What met their eyes were two two-year-old children, a boy and a girl.
The boy had black hair and his hands in his pockets, while the girl had white hair tied in a bun, holding a lollipop, eating it as she shouted.
It seemed like their fighting was the right thing to do.
"Tenyu, Maki, where's Uncle Satoru?" Naruto asked, looking around after seeing them.
Sasuke looked at the two with suspicion.
"Dad is busy working, so we came back by ourselves." Tenyu took out a key and opened the door.
"Come in if you have something to say."
Maki skipped past them, making a funny face: "They didn't even fight, how boring."
Naruto and Sasuke exchanged glances, pouted, turned their heads, and walked in.
Inside the living room,
There were appliances, a sofa, and some bamboo-woven figurines.
There were dragonflies, flying eagles, whales, Pangolins, etc.
Seeing this, Sasuke realised he hadn't come to the wrong place.
Naruto, as if he owned the place, sat directly on the sofa.
He was already a familiar face because only Grandpa Third Hokage and Satoru's family looked at him with warmth; everyone else looked at him with cold, icy eyes.
So he especially liked coming here.
After coming a few times, he became familiar.
"Hey, Tenyu, Maki, you're only two years old. How could Uncle Satoru let you come back by yourselves?" Naruto asked, arms crossed, complaining about Satoru.
They were only two years old! What if they got kidnapped?
Tenyu sat comfortably on the sofa, and hearing Naruto's words, he said dismissively, "My sister and I are so smart, who could kidnap us? Right, Maki?"
Maki rolled her eyes at him: "If you called me 'older sister,' maybe I'd agree with you."
Then Tenyu's gaze fell on Sasuke: "I haven't seen you before. Did you come to the wrong place?"
"This should be Uncle Satoru's House, right?" Sasuke asked.
"That's right, it is."
"I want to order that from Bad Uncle." Sasuke pointed at the figurine on the table.
His brother's figurine had accidentally broken during training, and then he remembered Bad Uncle.
Following his family's teachings, he used his abilities to find this place.
"Bad Uncle? Haha, Dad does have a strange nickname everywhere he goes." Maki laughed loudly, without any ladylike demeanour.
Ugly Old Man, Bad Uncle, Old Weirdo...
He had all sorts of names.
Naruto looked at Sasuke with disdain: "You're so old, and you're still playing with these things? Aren't you ashamed?"
He had played with them for a few years and then stopped; what was so fun about them?
A '#' symbol flashed on Sasuke's forehead.
"None of your business."
"Those things are very expensive now. You're so young, you can't afford them."
Tenyu and Maki exchanged glances, a cunning smile appearing in their eyes.
Sasuke was surprised to hear that: "I have money."
He was older now and understood more, knowing it was bad to just take other people's things.
It would be even better if he could buy it.
Tenyu held up five fingers: "This amount. Are you sure you have it?"
Naruto was stunned; fifty thousand ryo! That could buy so much food!
"Five hundred thousand ryo? No problem, but I want good quality. The last one Bad Uncle gave me broke easily." Sasuke said casually, without even blinking.
"..."
Naruto was dumbfounded. Were the things he no longer played with really that valuable?
He looked at the other figurines in the living room, his eyes gleaming.
If he sold them, he could buy a lot of delicious food.
Tenyu and Maki also widened their eyes and leaned closer to each other.
"Hey, is he an idiot? I was thinking of only asking for five thousand ryo, but he offered such a high price?"
"Shh! Don't let him hear you. This is Dad's minimum monthly salary.
If we sell it, we'll have our own pocket money and won't have to ask Mom for it."
The two discussed in low voices.
Tenyu composed his excitement and said blandly: "You have good taste. My dad's craftsmanship is the best in Konoha. Tell me what figurine you want, and I'll tell my dad. You can come pick it up tomorrow."
Maki: "That's right, my dad is the best craftsman."
"An Uchiha Itachi figurine, just that one. Bad Uncle should know how to make it.
I want good quality." Sasuke said.
He clearly remembered his brother telling him that Bad Uncle was a high-ranking member of the Konoha Intelligence Department. He shouldn't be mistaken about that.
And he had been teammates with his brother, so it should be correct.
"Money."
Tenyu held out his hand.
Sasuke looked at the two children, wondering if they were trustworthy.
But seeing that Naruto knew them and also knew Bad Uncle, it should be fine.
Worst case, Uchiha is the Konoha Military Police Force, and no one would dare to deceive him.
He took out five hundred thousand ryo and gave it to the two of them.
Tenyu acted calm, suppressing his inner excitement, and calmly took the money, putting it into his pocket.
"I'll remember. You can go back now. Oh, what's your name?"
"Uchiha Sasuke."
"Mhm, I've noted it down. I like you very much, so I'll have Dad make you the best one."
He did like him; now they had pocket money.
Sasuke nodded and turned to leave.
Naruto's stunned expression happened to fall into his eyes as he turned, carrying a hint of disdain, and walked out the door.
Naruto naturally saw his gaze, but he didn't care.
He even etched Sasuke's appearance into his mind.
Because this was another man who didn't look at him with *that* kind of gaze.
Although that disdainful expression made him a little annoyed.
"I didn't expect this thing to be so expensive!" Naruto drooled, looking at the figurine on the table.
Tenyu didn't want to talk about that with Naruto: "Naruto, what are you here for again? You're not here to freeload food again, are you?"
Maki: "Exactly, are you here to freeload food?"
"No, I'm not! And you should call me Big Brother Naruto!" Naruto's mouth twisted in anger.
Ever since the two little ones grew up, whenever Old Weirdo was around, they'd call him Big Brother Naruto.
When he wasn't around, they'd just call him Naruto. It was so annoying.
"If you don't tell us, we'll kick you out."
Tenyu was already impatient to split the spoils with his sister, so he spoke up.
"Damn it, I'm going to Ninja School in a few days! I'm going to become a Ninja like Ugly Old Man soon!
I came to tell Ugly Old Man."
Naruto said, his face once again showing excitement.
Grandpa Third Hokage already knew about this good news; Ugly Old Man was his only sharing partner.